Investigation of the Molecular Response of Belugas to Stressors""

Abstract

Award Number: N000141410411 http://searesearch.org LONG-TERM GOALSThe overall goal of this project is to characterize the beluga immune response at the molecular level utilizing archived and fresh blood and skin samples collected in association with different stressors. In the long term, selected biomarkers found to be informative will be utilized in skin potentially eliminating the need for blood sampling from wild populations. OBJECTIVESThe specific objectives are listed as follows:1. To assess the quality and quantity of total RNA from blood and skin samples collected in the field from wild belugas, and compare with samples collected and archived from Aquarium belugas.2. To utilize archived tissues collected outside the proposed study to validate previously published primers for use in blood and skin from belugas.3. To apply molecular methods to describe and quantify changes in the expression of immunological "stress" markers in peripheral blood from captive and wild belugas.4. To apply molecular methods to describe and quantify the expression of immunological markers in skin.5. To correlate the biomarkers in blood from the proposed study to the findings of the previous ONR funded project (N00014-11-1-0437). APPROACHThe approach for the study includes the sample collection, isolation of total RNA followed by quality and quantity assessment, cDNA synthesis through reverse transcription, and amplification of mRNA sequences by using sequence-specific primers by real-time quantitative PCR.